1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for assembling moldings, such as belt-line window moldings for motor vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of systems and methods are conventionally used to fabricate and/or assemble window moldings such as, for example, window moldings for motor vehicles which are designed to seal the opening between the body of the motor vehicle and a movable motor vehicle window glass such as, for example, the movable window glass located in the door of an automobile. These window moldings are commonly referred to as belt-line window moldings.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,141,854 to Mueller et al. and 6,742,304 to Mueller et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, teach that a belt-line window molding is fixed to a vehicle body and provides a sealing engagement with the periphery of the window glass to prevent environmental elements or other obstructions from entering the area between the body structure and the movable window glass of a motor vehicle. The Mueller et al. patents teach a typical window molding of a two-part construction including a main body part which, although functional, may not be aesthetically pleasing, and a decorative or ornamental metal cover member designed to hide the functional main body part behind a painted, anodized, chrome-plated or otherwise decoratively treated ornamental cover.
Conventionally, such metal cover members are secured to functional main body parts of motor vehicle belt-line window moldings in widely varied ways. The Mueller et al. patents catalog a number of these conventional methods for mating, assembling and/or otherwise securing a metal cover member of such a molding to a functional main body part of the molding. Disadvantages associated with each method are noted. The Mueller et al. patents propose to overcome enumerated shortfalls in previous methods by providing a method of assembling a belt-line window molding for a motor vehicle door, wherein the belt-line molding includes a main body part with a rigid internal construction of aluminum, steel, hardened plastic, PVC or other rigid material, and a metal cover part having a channel configuration of a C-shaped profile intended to cover an exposed portion of the main body part. The disclosed method includes placing one edge of the metal cover part into an edge receiving groove of the main body part, pivoting the metal cover part generally about that edge such that the opposite edge of the metal cover part engages a rigid portion of the main body part, outwardly flexing the channel configuration of the metal cover part in order to slide the edge across the rigid portion of the main body part, and inwardly flexing the metal cover part to complete the assembly of the metal cover part onto the rigid portion of the main body part. The result is an assembled belt-line window molding for a motor vehicle.